1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a wireless remote control apparatus for consumer electronic (CE) appliances, and to systems and methods for transferring and controlling audio and/or visual data (hereinafter “A/V data) from acquisition devices, through a wireless remote control apparatus, and onto an output display devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Traditionally, domestic homes have contained stand-alone CE appliances such as TV sets or single add-on appliances such as VCR and DVD players which allow the recording of TV shows and playing of pre-recorded movies. However, the last few years have seen a substantial growth in audio and visual content derived from digital appliances and made available to consumers in digital form. Examples include digital cameras for digital imaging and MP3 digital encoding for audio data, as well as digital video cameras. Broadly speaking most consumers now find digital content more flexible and useful than conventional analog media. However, although most digital content can be readily managed and post-processed on a conventional desktop computer, this is not necessarily the best location for a consumer to enjoy such content.
Accordingly a new generation of peripheral add-on CE appliances have emerged, such as Picture Display Devices and Media Adapters, whose goal is to enable the viewing of digital content using more conventional CE appliances such as a TV set. A Media Adapter is an appliance which can receive digital content over a network connection and convert it to standard RCA, S-Video, HDTV or DV output for presentation on a standard TV set. Typically such an appliance sources its content from a networked desktop computer.
The PrismIQ Media Adapter (www.prismiq.com) is a good state-of-art example of such an appliance. It allows audio, video and still photo content located on a networked home computer to be viewed on a home TV-set. The PrismIQ features audio and video outputs which allow it to be connected directly to a standard TV set. It may be networked with the home computer via either wired, or wireless network connections. The main PrismIQ appliance can then be managed by the user with a conventional remote control unit, thus allowing the display of digital content on the TV set from a couch in the living room. Even with the PrismIQ, however, digital content is first loaded onto a desktop computer and pre-processed by a specialized server application prior to being accessible by the user from the comfort of his living room.
Picture Display Devices such as Digital-Album by Nixvue Systems Ltd. (www.nixvue.com), generally include a “set-top box” which plugs physically into a television set and contains one or more readers for a removable storage medium, such as a memory card, containing audio and/or visual data content. Operating picture display devices, however, involves users plugging the removable storage medium into the box, returning to their seats and activating then remote control unit. This becomes awkward if users have multiple removable memory cards that they wish to review or organize. That is, operating picture display devices involves users moving from the couch to the TV set or box in order to switch removable memory cards.